1939 Iron Cross 1st Cl w/Flat Pin & Makers Mark

Reddick Militaria's model of the 1939 1st Class Iron Cross features the desirable flat pin back in coke bottle shape, with the correct style hinge and clasp, and number 50 maker's mark. This is an excellent quality reproduction of the best known award of World War II: the German Iron Cross, or EKI (Eiserne Kreuz I)!

Translated from Medals & Decorations of the Third Reich, by SS Colonel Dr. Heinrich Doehle. Copyright 1995, J. Rex Reddick:

On 1 September 1939, the memorial day of the battle of Sedan (1870-1871 Franco-German War), the statures of the Iron Cross, first established on 1 March 1813 by Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III in Breslau, were renewed. The Iron Cross statutes were also renewed during the wars of 1870 and 1914. The renewal stature begins:

"After my decision to call the German people to arms because of threatening attacks, I renew the Iron Cross, in memory of the heroic battles fought by the sons of Germany to protect the homeland in the earlier Great War."

The renewal statutes of 1 September 1939 were supplemented on 3 June 1940. The 1813, 1870 and 1914 Iron Cross was a Prussian award: however, the 1939 Iron Cross is a German award. Deviating from prior classification, the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class and Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (the Blücher Star was not in the establishing document) the 1939 Iron Cross will be awarded in seven grades, as follows:

• Iron Cross 2nd Class
• Iron Cross 1st Class
• Knights Cross of the Iron Cross
• Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves
• Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves & Swords
• Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves and Swords and Diamonds
• Grand Cross of the Iron Cross

The original Iron Cross was designed by Karl Frederich Schinkel and retains its original form. The obverse shows in the center of the cross a swastika and in the lower arm the year 1939. The reverse shows in the bottom arm the year 1813. The suspension ribbon is black-white-red. The Knights Cross is a little larger than the 2nd Class and is worn at the throat. The Oakleaves to the Knights Cross is composed of three silver oak leaves added to the top arm of the cross and through which the suspension ribbon is threaded. The Grand Cross is twice the size of the Iron Cross 2nd Class and is worn at the throat on a wide black-white-red ribbon.